It’s your first day standing in ever.  You’re about to be thrown to the wolves.  You were booked late last night and didn’t have time to read “What Is A Stand-In?” on Stand-In Central.  Here are 5 terms you should know to fake your way through the day.

“Second Team!”

That’s you.  All of the stand-ins collectively are referred to as “second team.”  By comparison, “first team” refers to the collection of principal actors for whom you’re standing in.  You’re likely going to hear “Second team!” called just after the principal actors have rehearsed with the director.  You’ll hear it after you hear the gate is good.  What’s a good gate?  Read on …

“Checking the Gate!”

This is said at almost the end of a particular shot.  The scene is rehearsed, marked, set up, and filmed from that setup.  Once the director has gotten what he or she wanted, you’ll hear “Checking the gate!” called out.  What does “checking the gate” mean?

Basically, it means that a member of the camera department looks into the camera for specks of dirt, dust,  hair, etc., that may have ruined takes.  If the “gate is good,” usually that means moving on to the next shot.  If there’s a bad gate or “flag on the play” as you sometimes might here, usually they’ll do another take.

Of importance to you, when you hear “Checking the gate!,” you want to be very close to set such that you can step in at any moment.  When you hear “Checking the gate!,” it’s definitely not time to go ten-one.  (What??)

“I’m Ten-One!” / “I’m 10-1!”

“Ten-one”–or “ten-one hundred” as it’s sometimes called–is simply code for “in the bathroom.”  You might hear “The director’s 10-1” spoken over the walkies.  This means that the director is in the bathroom.

Usually non-film crew people do not understand this term; it is a polite, even secret way of communicating over walkie something less than glamorous.  Background actors don’t commonly know the meaning of the term (unless they’ve been around a while).  Knowing the meaning of the term will help you assimilate better with the crew, especially when nature calls.

When’s the best time to go ten-one?  Perhaps once the cameras roll for the first take, a little after when you were excused from set and first team stepped back in.

Did you have trouble in that camera setup, standing in?  If so, it might have been partly because you weren’t ready for a couple other important terms …

“Color Cover”

The term for the clothing you’re wearing that represents the clothing worn by the first-team actor is called “color cover.”  You usually pick it up from wardrobe before you’re on set to stand in.  Not all sets require it of stand-ins, but some sets find it very important.  In order to collect your color cover, usually you trade in your voucher, which you’ll get back when you return your color cover.

“Camera-Right” / “Camera-Left”

If you’re anything like me, when you get stressed, figuring out left and right, especially on someone else, is tough.  Figuring it out on an inanimate object like a camera can be even trickier!

“Camera-right” and “camera-left” are simply terms for the sides of the camera from the camera’s perspective.  If you’re facing the camera, if you’re told to look camera-right, you look to the left of the camera (which is the camera’s right side).  If you’re facing the camera and you’re told to look camera-left, you look to the right of the camera (which is the camera’s left side).

Now, when you’re not facing the camera but your back is to the camera, obviously things get thrown a bit for a loop as camera-right and -left are also your right and left.

If you’re good with right and left, you’ll have no problem translating this on the fly.  However, if you’re not, something that helps me is to picture the camera like a person with arms and to identify that person/camera’s arms as “right” and “left.”  Sometimes before a day of work I just go over in my head which side is camera-right and which is camera-left so I’m not caught offguard.

Did this post save your life on your first day standing in?  If so, share your experience below!